Have you ever wondered where the first
hamburger come from?
1209
– 1121
Genghis Khan (1167-1227) and his
army of fierce Mongol horsemen conquered two thirds of the then known
world. The Mongols were a fast-moving,
cavalry-based army that rode small sturdy ponies. They stayed in their saddles for long period
of time, sometimes days without ever dismounting. They had little opportunity to stop and build
a fire for their meal.
As the army needed food that could
be carried and eaten easily with one hand while they rode, ground meat was the
perfect choice. They would use scrapings of lamb or mutton which were
formed into flat patties. They softened the meat by placing them
under the saddles of their horses while riding into battle. When it was
time to eat, the meat would be eaten raw, having been tenderized by the saddle
and the back of the horse.
1238
When Genghis Khan’s grandson,
Khubilai Khan (1215-1294), invaded Moscow, they naturally brought their unique
dietary ground meat with them. The Russians adopted it into their own
cuisine with the name “Steak Tartare,” (Tartars being their name for the Mongols).
Over many years, Russian chefs adapted and developed this dish and
refining it with chopped onions and raw eggs.
15th Century
Russian ships brought recipes for
steak tartare to the German port of Hamburg, a time when there was such a great
presence of Russian residents there that it was nicknamed "the Russian
port."
18th and 19th Centuries
In the late eighteenth century,
Immigrants to the United States from German brought with them some of their
favorite foods. One of them was Hamburg Steak. The Germans simply
flavored shredded low-grade beef with regional spices, and both cooked and raw
it became a standard meal among the poorer classes. In the seaport town
of Hamburg, it acquired the name Hamburg steak.
History of American Hamburgers
Many folks have claimed they were
the first to place a ground beef patty between two slices of white bread. Most
of the following stories on the history of the hamburgers were told after the
fact and are based on the recollections of family members. The claims are as
follows:
·
1885 - Charlie Nagreen
of Seymour, Wisconsin – At the age of 15, he sold hamburgers from his
ox-drawn food stand at the Outagamie County Fair. He set up a stand selling
meatballs. But Business wasn’t good and he quickly realized that it was because
meatballs were too difficult to eat while strolling around the fair. In a flash
of innovation, he flattened the meatballs, placed them between two slices of
bread and called his new creation a hamburger. He was known to many as
“Hamburger Charlie.”
He
returned to sell hamburgers at the fair every year until his death in 1951, and
he would entertain people with guitar and mouth organ and his jingle:
((Hamburgers,
hamburgers, hamburgers hot; onions in the middle, pickle on top. Makes your
lips go flip pity flop.))
The
town of Seymour, Wisconsin have a Hamburger Hall of Fame that they built as a
tribute to Charlie Nagreen and the legacy he left behind. The town claims to be
“Home of the Hamburger” and holds an annual Burger Festival on the first Saturday
of August each year.
·
1885 - The family of Frank and Charles Menches from
Akron, Ohio, claim the brothers invented the hamburger while traveling in a 100-man
traveling concession circuit at events (fairs, race meetings, and farmers’
picnics) in the Midwest in the early 1880s.
During
a stop at the Erie County Fair in Hamburg, New York, the brothers ran out of
pork for their hot sausage patty sandwiches. Because this happened on a
particularly hot day, the local butchers stop slaughtering pigs. The
butcher suggested that they substitute beef for the pork. The brothers
ground up the beef, mixed it with some brown sugar, coffee, and other spices
and served it as a sandwich between two pieces of bread.
According
to family legend, Frank didn’t know what to call it, so he looked up and saw
the banner for the Hamburg fair and said, “This is the hamburger.” In Frank’s 1951 obituary in The Los Angeles
Times, he is acknowledged him as the "inventor” of the hamburger.
On May
28, 2005, the town of Akron, Ohio hosted the First Annual National Hamburger
Festival to celebrate the 120th Anniversary of the invention of the hamburger. The
festival dedicated to Frank and Charles Menches. The Ohio legislature also make hamburgers the
state food.
·
1891 - The family of Oscar
Weber Bilby claim the first-known hamburger on a bun was served on Grandpa
Oscar’s farm just west of Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1891. The family says that Grandpa
Oscar was the first to add the bun, but they concede that hamburger sandwiches
made with bread may predate Grandpa Oscar’s famous hamburger.
The
story it was in June of 1891 when Grandpa took up a chunk of iron and made
himself a big ol’ grill. Then the next month on the Fourth of July he built a
hickory wood fire underneath that grill, and when those coals were glowing hot,
he took some ground Angus meat and fired up a big batch of hamburgers. When
they were cooked all good and juicy, he put them on Grandma Fanny’s homemade
yeast buns. He served those burgers on buns to neighbors and friends under a
grove of pecan trees. They couldn’t get enough, so Grandpa hosted another big
feed. He did that every Fourth of July,
and sometimes as many as 125 people showed up.
In
1933, Oscar and his son, Leo, opened the family’s first hamburger stand in
Tulsa, Oklahoma. They still use the same grill used in 1891, with one minor
variation, the wood stove has been converted to natural gas.
On
April 13, 1995, Governor Frank Keating of Oklahoma proclaimed that the real
birthplace of the hamburger on the bun, was created and consumed in Tulsa in
1891.
·
1900 – Louis Lassen of New Haven, Connecticut is also recorded as
serving the first “burger” at his New Haven luncheonette called Louis’ Lunch Wagon.
Louis ran a small lunch wagon selling steak sandwiches to local factory
workers. A frugal business man, he did not like to waste the excess beef
from his daily lunch rush. It is said that he ground up some scraps of
beef and served it as a sandwich, the sandwich was sold between pieces of
toasted bread, to a customer who was in a hurry and wanted to eat on the run.
·
1931 - Wimpy joined the Popeye comic strip, and he played a significant
role in popularizing the hamburger in the United States. Wimpy is probably best
known for his consumption of hamburgers. Wimpy loves to eat hamburgers, but is
usually too cheap to pay for them. A recurring joke is Wimpy’s attempts to con
other members of the diner into buying him burgers.The popularity the character
Wimpy spawned a successful chain of hamburger restaurants called Wimpy’s
that flourished for over a decade. This burger went for the upscale
market at 10 cents a burger. In keeping with the founder’s wishes, all
1,500 restaurants were closed down when he died in 1978.
Who was the first to serve the
Hamburg steak as a sandwich?
The details have been lost to
history. Whoever it was, looking back it might be considered a stroke of
culinary genius. By the turn of the century, the hamburger was already
considered an American classic.
The hamburger continued to grow in
popularity throughout the following decades. Today hamburgers can be found in
nearly every part of the world.
What’s your favorite way to eat a
hamburger?
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